Fuel Price Hike, Crude Surge Drag Markets; Sensex, Nifty Open Lower
Indian equity markets opened in the red on Friday as a nationwide hike in fuel prices and firming global crude oil rates weighed on investor sentiment, even as global markets remained focused on the ongoing summit between the U.S. and China.
The BSE SENSEX fell 64.22 points or 0.09 per cent to 75,334.50 in early trade, while the NSE NIFTY 50 remained nearly flat with a negative bias, shedding 1.55 points to stand at 23,688.05.
This marginal decline follows a significant policy shift as the Centre hiked the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each across the country.
In the national capital, petrol prices rose from Rs 94.77 to Rs 97.77 per litre, while diesel prices increased from Rs 87.67 to Rs 90.67 per litre.
How are fuel prices rising across metros like Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai?
Similar escalations are visible in other metros, with petrol reaching Rs 108.74 (+3.29) in Kolkata, Rs 103.67 (+2.83) in Chennai and Rs 106.68 (+3.14) in Mumbai. Diesel prices in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai now stand at Rs 93.14 (+3.11), Rs 95.13 (+3.11) and Rs 95.25 (+2.86) per litre, respectively.
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On the sectoral front, performance remained mixed as the Nifty IT index led the gainers with a 1.27 per cent rise, followed by Nifty Auto at 0.93 per cent and Nifty Pharma at 0.30 per cent.
Conversely, selling pressure was evident in the Nifty PSU Bank index, which declined by 0.55 per cent.
The Nifty Metal and Nifty Financial Services sectors also traded lower by 0.46 per cent and 0.25 per cent, respectively.
Commodity markets reflected ongoing volatility as Brent Crude gained 1.10 per cent to reach $106.89 per barrel. WTI Crude Oil similarly rose 1.22 per cent to $102.41 per barrel.
Meanwhile, Gold prices on the CFD markets witnessed a decline of 0.79 per cent, trading at $4,614.28.
Global cues remained mixed overnight. U.S. stock futures were little changed on Thursday night after the Dow Jones Industrial Average reclaimed the 50,000 threshold, and the S&P 500 closed above 7,500 for the first time.
Investors are also keeping an eye on the ongoing summit between the U.S. and China.
At the time of filing this report, Dow futures fell by 10 points, or 0.02 per cent. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.02 per cent, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.06 per cent.
(With inputs from ANI)